About creVAMP
First and foremost, our mission is to motivate current and future commercial real estate professionals through valuable information and discussion pertaining to the real estate industry. Our content is structured to serve all professionals alike, from those looking to start a career in real estate to seasoned veterans. In other words, this site is built to serve you in whatever facet of your career that you're looking to learn, grow, or share.
The goal is to establish a community that effectively adds value in the various sectors of real estate. By connecting the thoughtful, genuine professionals that make up the real estate industry, a wealth of information inevitably results, creating an invaluable resource in the process. Whatever your niche may be, I assure that you will find beneficial content throughout the site, allowing you to grow, learn and contribute as a fellow real estate professional.
All Saints Chapel Sewanee, TN My Story - Michael Morris On May 10th, 2014, a number of friends and I took the bittersweet stroll towards the front of All Saints Chapel, marking the end of our undergraduate careers at The University of the South in Sewanee, TN. With a liberal arts education under my belt, I was told I could work towards whatever career I wanted, whether it be a Scuba Instructor in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Founder of a world renown Non-Profit Organization, Investment Banker on Wall Street, so on and so forth. For the most part, I found this to be absolutely true, mainly because I so dearly wanted it to be.
I understood the expectations for myself and many of my fellow college grads; establish some sort of stable income to support myself and begin the overwhelming journey towards paying off those student loans. So, with only one requirement for the next step, I found myself trying to decide which path was right for me at that time. I'm an entrepreneur at heart, and while I had a pretty good idea of how to start a business from numerous blog posts and podcast episodes, I wanted to travel more than anything.
Me behind the wheel of Tower 1 I had never taken a trip longer than two weeks and the only question I ever asked on campus visits was whether or not that school had a study abroad program in Australia. At the end of my freshman year, I underwent a grueling tryout process and was fortunate enough to become a member of the Sewanee Volunteer Fire Department. I would eventually become the Student Assistant Chief of the department and really enjoyed the experience as a whole, however such a commitment ruled out any semester abroad opportunity.
I now had a clear idea of what my goal was. I was willing to do just about anything to make myself some money, and I wanted to make the trek "down under" for at least 6 months. So I took to heart the one piece of advice the entrepreneur community preaches with contagious passion, which just so happens to be the simplistic catch phrase of the most well known sports apparel brand on the planet: "Just do it."
Credit Nike if you'd like, as June 11th marked the day for me and 6 friends to take the plunge towards Melbourne, Victoria, the second largest city in Australia. I had a job lined up at a financial firm in the heart of the city working alongside a childhood friend, and to top it off, the seven of us living together had been sponsored by lacrosse clubs around town to join their squad, allowing us all to continue playing our beloved sport most athletes are forced to leave behind upon graduation.
Upon arrival, I am a 22 year-old with numerous once-in-a-lifetime opportunities at my fingertips--The Outback, Surfing in Gold Coast, The Opera House, world class fly fishing in New Zealand, etc.--but something was missing. I sat at a desk at one of the highest points in all of Melbourne with a 360-degree view of what I'm missing out on, spending my time cold calling people that don't want to hear from me and quite frankly, I didn't want to talk to them either.
After a couple weeks of feeling like I was wasting my life away, I had that ah-ha moment people talk about. I got an email from a mentor of mine whom I had worked for the previous summer, asking me to come work for him when I returned to the US. That was the moment I realized I wanted to work in commercial real estate. Reading the email got me so fired up that I knew almost instantaneously I had to go after this passion of mine.
Motivated again by Nike, I took the first step towards a long-term career in commercial real estate and started this blog that very same day. Ideas for my first post started flying through my head and I couldn't wait to start adding value for those of you that take the time to check out my site. Thank you all for your time and don't hesitate in taking that next step in life.
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